Green lung in the heart of Kuching

EMILY Wong, a friend who has just moved to Kuching, invited me for a day out.

At the appointed time, it was raining heavily. Undeterred, she decided to go ahead with our planned outing and drove slowly. With the help of her smartphone app, we found the small road leading to Reservoir Park.

With child-like innocence, being a newcomer to Kuching, she was quite surprised by her ‘discovery’ — a recreational park in the heart of the city.

When we arrived at the park, the sun crept out from behind the clouds. It was as if the health-conscious crowd waiting for the shower to pass at the park had woken up and stretched themselves like shadow dancers on stage as they moved slowly towards the jogging paths from the shelters.

The next impression I had of Reservoir Park was the beautiful Chinese bridge, looking so brilliant in vermillion against the jade-green water. It was like the focal point of a painting, with different shades of green all around it — quite mesmerising really.

The reservoir lake looked fairly big, and at the centre, a fountain was shooting up water, giving a certain magical element to it.

Fairly near us was a thicket and we could hear small birds tweeting happily — as usual after a tropical shower.

A few men were still sitting in the shed, probably waiting for their friends. However, several couples were already into their strides on the jogging lanes.

The health-conscious soon caused the atmosphere to come alive. Even one or two dogs of the joggers sprang into action. The paths, still quite wet from the rain, were shimmering in the sun.

I was looking at Brooke History, forwarded from 1895. Reservoir Park is actually a park, developed around the reservoir and designed by the Second Rajah in 1895. The reservoir was to provide piped water to his Kuching subjects until 1924.

Before piped water was available, the residents of Kuching depended on well water. The benevolent ruler must have been convinced about the significance of treated water because almost at the same time in England, many reservoirs were being built for the English.

It was also that during this time that the Second Rajah initiated the Sarawak Museum, which became the best in Southeast Asia. The Sarawak Museum is sited not too far from the reservoir.

The English, as a people, love gardens, parks and stately homes. And it was likely the Second Rajah had the same aspirations. He must have been very happy acting as a provident and gracious ruler, and most probably he rode his horse around Kuching, looking very much like the lord of the manor, for after all the Kingdom of Sarawak was very much like his vast landed property and profits were coming in from gambier, some gold, some coal and bauxite, and other exports of the day.

Reservoir Park is situated along Jalan Budaya behind the Malaysian Red Crescent building. It is also only a 10-minute walk from Kuching City centre. A stream, the small Kuching Ulu, used to supply the reservoir with fresh water, but today it is already covered up by built-up materials and roads.

Emily was excited about going to the reservoir. She told me her sister-in-law had reminded her to look for the lilies at the park. But we were disappointed the lilies were no longer there. Her sister-in-law had mentioned that many years ago, a lot of couples had their wedding photos taken with the waterlilies as the backdrop. Back then, the park was also a favourite rendezvous spot for dating couples.

As if to confirm what Emily’s sister-in-law had said, a relative later told thesundaypost her wedding photo was taken at the park about 30 years ago and the family still love the photo.

Today, she said many people continued to take their wedding and anniversary photos at the park, adding, “It’s really very artistic and people should come and get inspired.”

There were many trees at the park which attracted our attention — plaiee, tembusu, panaga, sea almond, sea apple, sago palms, durian, rambutan and even mangosteen trees seem to have been there since the time of the Rajah.

Besides, there are other kinds of landscape palms. In the distance, a few raintrees, albizia and other awesome looking species, could be seen, providing lovely silhouettes.

The park has an awesome feel of a lush green but sculptured equatorial rainforest. While enjoying the luxuriant greenery, we were attracted by the small buds of the bunga kantan peeping at us.

The moist grounds do encourage the growth of gingers and other similar plants. There were many other small bushes and flowering plants like hibiscus and spider lilies.

Just slightly outside the park is the famous Kuching Amphitheatre. It really looks nice even though not at its best. Some improvements should take care of its appearance.

Both Emily and I shared a similar thought when we looked at the hippodrome. Wouldn’t it be nice to stage an open air Shakespearean play here?

We looked at each other and laughed. Being friends, we often share the same thoughts, often at the same time.

Emily said some spots at the park reminded her of Melbourne, where she had spent some time. Some of the landscape trees are well selected and the paths look very tempting for any jogger or the health conscious to exercise on.

There are actually two access points to Reservoir Park — from the museum grounds, and from Reservoir Road.

Many people actually park their cars somewhere and walk from the museum grounds.

The park is green, the paths undulating and, in fact, some of the joggers even cut across the park to climb the low hills.

There is also a children’s playground. Although many parents kept close to their children, some mothers tried doing a bit of exercise with their children jumping happily around them. It was nice to hear children’s voices in the park.

The sun suddenly shone brighter as it lowered towards the horizon in the west. And all of a sudden, a small child shouted, “Look a rainbow!”

Indeed, in the middle of the lake, a partial but sharp rainbow had formed as if to welcome the two of us to Kuching. It was almost five in the evening.

Emily was delighted by the symbolic rainbow and told me she was going to bring her elderly parents to see the park as soon as possible. Both her parents are still very active and would definitely like to breathe the fresh air there.

A Kuching friend commented that if we had gone there in the early morning, we could have seen many people practising tai-chi. Indeed, so many activities could be carried out at this beautiful park which is very spacious and well designed.

She said the paths are also good for jogging, attracting many health-conscious enthusiasts in the mornings and evenings. She and her family go there as often as they can.

She added that many older joggers have been coming to the park for the last 20 years and they have formed groups to meet up on special occasions like birthdays or anniversaries.

The toilet, manned by a person sitting at a table, costs 20 sen per entry. It is specially designed, and hidden under some creeping plants and bougainvillea. But as usual, one has to mind the steps. There should be a disabled-friendly toilet too.

Another park enthusiast gave thesundaypost five reasons why one must visit Reservoir Park:

1. The scenery and landscape,
2. The peace and quiet, especially by the lake looking at the fish and the turtles,
3. Free outdoor activities — a nice picnic with home-made goodies, including packed meals, would really be enjoyable,
4. Easy accessibility, and
5. If one had never been to a park anywhere in the world, Reservoir Park would really be a good ‘first’ and the rewards would be tremendous.

She emphasised the people of Kuching are so blessed to have such a beautiful park, adding, “Fresh air especially after a heavy rain is a great attribute of this park. More people should realise how lucky they are to have this reservoir park in the middle of the city. What a wonderful green lung for Kuching.”

It would have been good to see some artists painting at the park. And why shouldn’t art teachers have lessons there?

Indeed, looking at the park and its landscape, one does wonder if the arrangements of the water features have the right feng shui. In any case, the serenity and the beauty have left a very deep impression on me. The fresh, cool breeze blowing on the face made me wonder if visiting the park was a truly ‘makan angin’ moment. It was definitely energising.

It must have been awesome during the Rajah’s time for the people to take an evening walk at Kuching’s biggest park at the time. It must have been terrific as well to know they had treated water piped to their homes from the reservoir.

It took Emily and myself more than one or two hours to complete walking around the whole park. Yes, more people, including tourists, should enjoy the Reservoir Park of Kuching and as if to replicate Mehmet Murat Ildan’s wisdom, the park is like “a small Heaven on Earth”.

He once wrote, “When you increase the number of gardens, you increase the number of heavens too!”